Lucid Dreams
by torreswifey
Summary: After Ross and Rachel's break up, Ross disappears. 2 years later Rachel runs into him on the streets of San Francisco, but he is not what she remember him to be. Instead of finding her Ross, she finds a man with a dark past.


**hey everyone! this is my first fanfic so please don't judge it too quickly ;-;**

**this is au, just to let you know, you may notice that some of the characters may act 'out of character' compared to how they act in the show. you will probably also notice that this friends fanfic has a VERY different genre to others, i am kinda going for an action - romance type of thing.**

**WARNING: the following story deals with mature and serious topics. nothing written is meant to mock or offend any of these topics. younger readers' view discretion is advised. **

**DISCLAIMER: i do not own friends. as much as i would love to, i don't. **

**okay enough chit-chat. i present to you ****_Lucid Dreams_****.**

**Chapter 1**

It was over. He had lost everything. The most important person in his life was _gone_. In those few hours he had lost everything he'd dreamed about since he was 15, and he threw it all away by sleeping with another woman. When he saw the look of pain and betrayal in her eyes when she told him that their relationship was over, he was disgusted with himself, he was unfaithful to the one person he was afraid of loosing most in the world, the one person he loved most in the world, the one person he would lay his life down for, the one person who could only ever make him truly happy, now that one person hated him and the only person he could blame was him. Tears were streaming down his face, each one falling quicker than the last.

"You're a fucking bastard, Ross!" He yelled to himself as he jammed his fist into his apartment wall.

He took a step away from the wall, he couldn't live like this. He couldn't look at her everyday knowing he was the one who caused her so much pain. He had to get out of here, he had to leave. He quickly dried his tears and rushed towards the phone, dialling the number he now knew off by heart.

"Hello sir?"

"Ross?"

"Yes it's me, I am so sorry to be calling you this late into the night, but I wanted to let you know that I'll take it."

"That's great news Ross, I am glad you finally came around!"

...

"Hey you guys, can I talk to all of you for a second?" Ross said as he walked into Monica's apartment.

"Sure sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I think it's best if you guys sit down." Ross gestured to the white couch, they all sat down. Ross stood in front of the TV facing all of them, but realising that Rachel was not there. "Hm, where is Rachel?" His voice cracked as her name rolled off his tongue.

"She is in her room, do you want me to call her?" Monica said, giving Ross a sympathetic look.

"Uh no, it's okay. She probably won't want to come out if I am here... under the uh circumstances." Ross looked down sadly, tears threatening to fall. He quickly shook it off and turned back to his friends.

The moment Rachel heard his voice she pressed her ear to the door of her bedroom, trying to listen to every word that left his lips.

"I would rather not beat around the bush, so I am just going to tell it to you guys straight. All I ask is that you respect and understand my decision to do this."

"Ross you are scaring us, what's going on?" Joey quipped in.

"Well, I am leaving..."

"What?" Monica asked, as if she heard wrong.

"Wait, I am confused? You are leaving the apartment?" Phoebe said dumbfounded.

"No, I am leaving the city."

Rachel's heart stopped as she heard those four words leave his lips. Her head that had been pressed up against the door, hadn't moved and neither would her other body parts.

_He-He's leaving...? No..._

"Oh I get it, you're going on a business trip right?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

"Yeah, Yeah. How long will you be gone?" Joey jumped in, trying to convince himself too.

"No, guys. I am leaving New York." Ross sighed sadly looking down.

"What?! What do you mean you're leaving?!" Monica jumped to her feet and rushed towards Ross.

"Yeah, you're joking right? You can't leave!" Chandler yelled also rushing towards Ross along with Phoebe and Joey.

"No, I am not joking. I got offered a job at a new museum in San Diego. They asked me if I could be the museum director and I accepted the job yesterday."

"Bu-But it's so soon, don't you think you are rushing into this?!" Monica argued.

"Actually..." Ross started, clearing his throat "I was offered the job a few weeks ago..."

"A few weeks ago?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Monica yelled at him.

"I was going to tell you it's just that things were different then, I wasn't planning on accepting the job... until..." he trailed off looking down at his feet again. There was only one person on his mind: Rachel.

Suddenly it hit her, a few weeks ago they were together, there was no fighting... a few weeks ago was when they were... happy.

She let a single tear role down her cheek. Everything made sense now, he wasn't leaving because of the job. He was leaving because of _her_. She moved away from her room door as more tears started to fall, she couldn't believe it. Ross was leaving because of her? Why? Was it because they broke up? Was it because he thought she didn't love him anymore? At that moment she realised that she hadn't been the only one left heart-broken after the break up. Ross had been just as affected, maybe more.

"Fuck." she whispered as she buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

"Come on guys, don't be sad." Ross started "I know this is a lot to take in, but this was my decision."

"You can't leave us just like that man! After all we've been through? You're just going to throw it all away?" Joey asked, sadness clearly showing in his voice.

"Of course not, Joe. I'll always remember you guys! I do not expect you guys to be okay with this but please remember... this was my decision and my decision alone. Plus, I've already taken the job offer so I can't back out now even if I wanted to."

Silence fell upon the group, each one of them taking in the surrealness of the situation. Monica was the one who broke the silence, asking the question that was on everyones mind.

"When are you leaving?"

"I have already started packing, I have movers moving my furniture from my old apartment to my new one." Ross cleared his throat "I leave Monday night."

Suddenly Ross' phone started to ring. He clicked a button and the ringing stopped.

"That was my boss, I gotta go now..." He explained, but in response everyone just kept looking at him with glossy eyes. "I will talk to you guys when I get back and explain everything." He took one last look at them and left.

...

**sorry the chapter was so short i will make the next one longer. anyway i hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of this fix, i will try and update it as often as i can. please leave a review and let me know what you think! 3**


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